Marcel, the planning officer, came round this morning to do the final inspection that allows us to have our certificate of occupancy. And everything was fine. He really loves the house. And so do we.

So we are, in one sense at least, “finished”.

However, there is still a lot of work to do. Inside, we have to finish the Japanese room and build book shelves. Outside, we have to install solar panels, both solar thermal (which we already have, ready to put up) and solar PV (which we don’t have, yet), and there is landscaping and all kinds of garden work to do once the snow clears and the temperatures rise. And then we have to deal with the old house – we applied for a demolition permit this week (and there will be more about all that in future posts).